Latest Posts by violetispersephone - Page 3
"I actually like Kaz's hat and think it's cunty," I say into the mic.
The crowd boos. I begin to walk off in shame, when a voice speaks and commands silence from the room.
"She's right," they say. I look for the owner of the voice. There in the 3rd row stands: Inej Ghafa
kaz showing inej the tunnel he dug under ketterdam to connect his club to his bestie’s house and inej going, no yeah babe it’s great really😐unrelated but do you want me to find you another life’s purpose now that you’ve gotten your revenge? nbd just wondering
the next time she comes back he greets her by popping out the end of another tunnel at fifth harbor and she realizes that maybe his life’s purpose is to create kerch’s first subway system
I started drawing the Ever After High girls in random historical fashion eras… why? I have no idea
Raven Queen in 1890s, Apple White in Italian Renaissance.
Briar Beauty in 1920s, Madeline Hatter in 1880s
No particularly reason for the eras, just the vibe I get from the characters and their designs!
Something incredibly satisfying about knowing your craft and the confidence that goes with it. Just the casual “yeah I could make that”. Want a band tee? Yeah I can embroider my own with the lyrics I want. Bridesmaid dress too long? Yeah I can hem it. Need new slippers? Yeah I can crochet a pair (and give them bunny ears). And of course it’s not perfect but nothing beats that feeling of being able to craft your own solution with your own two hands
“I watched my teaset, my bureaus of linen, my books…”
Apparently, some companies now are labeling mass-produced crochet items with "machine crocheted" to justify selling an entire granny square vest for 14 bucks.
1. Machines cannot crochet.
2. Knitting machines, to my knowledge, cannot make granny squares.
3. Even if there was a machine that could crochet, 14 bucks for an entire fucking vest is still too low to be paying people a livable wage basically anywhere in the world.
4. It takes me, a very fast crocheter, about twenty minutes to make one granny square in a single color with five rows. Multi-color granny squares take more time. I'll say 30 minutes. Next time you see a granny square anything in a big box store, count one row of squares and multiply by 20 (for single color squares) or 30 (multicolor squares). Then consider that it's skilled labor which should have an hourly wage you can live on. Then look at the price tag. This is Victorian piece work poor shit going on.
Blood Meridian by violet_persephone
Chapter 3: June Tornados in Kansas
“So I’ll be scaling the train instead,” Inej finishes. “I remember.”
“Scaling the train while it’s moving,” Kaz stresses, narrowing his eyes at her. “Get inside the locomotive and make the conductor stop. The tracks will be destroyed, so the conductor would need to stop either way, but you’ll need to subdue him. Make him tell the passengers that they’ve stopped for maintenance. If we panic the pigeons, they’ll be more difficult to work with. Jesper and I will start at the first car, and Matthias and Nina will hit the last. We’ll reconvene in the middle.”
Inej’s hands shake as she says: “We’re robbing them, and then leaving. We aren’t harming anyone.”
Kaz’s head dips. “Unless they make things difficult.”
“Kaz. I won’t kill anyone. I won’t kill innocent passengers.”
He scoffs at her. “Yes, your holiness, you’ve made yourself clear. We’ll see about that.”
Evening dress by the House of Worth, c.1880. From the "Fashioned by Sargent" exhibit at the MFA Boston, October 2023
photo by me (@edwardian-girl-next-door)
A dress owned by Russian empress Aleksandra Fëdorovna Romanova, second half of the 1890s.
via x
Once you start noticing the passive voice being used for men's actions, you can't unsee it. In history class it was always "women weren't seen as equal human beings" or "women weren't able to own property or have jobs or get education" rather than men legally considered women their property and banned them from work, school, and property rights.
In the news it's always "girl raped in park" or "woman killed in home" which would make some sense if the perpetrator was unknown, but they often have already caught the culprit by the time the article comes out and it's always a man.
The amount of times I've seen a headline about a man murdering his entire family before killing himself being titled "man commits suicide after family is killed" with a nice little family photo of them is absolutely absurd.
Hell, just last night I saw an article titled, "3 kids killed after mom let ex-partner take them to get food." Her male ex took the kids to get food and murdered them before killing himself. Not only is the headline passive, but it also phrases it in a way that makes the mother somehow look guilty like she knew what he had planned or knew he was insane.
To top it off, people get really uncomfortable if you stop using the passive voice for this stuff. They start squirming if you straight up say "men wrote laws banning women from voting" even when that is literally what happened. BOTH men and women act this way. It's like we're all just supposed to pretend that rape, enslavement, murder, and other human rights violations against women just fell from the sky.
"To change our relationship to the physical world – to end an era of profligate consumption by the few that has consequences for the many – means changing how we think about pretty much everything: wealth, power, joy, time, space, nature, value, what constitutes a good life, what matters, how change itself happens. As the climate journalist Mary Heglar writes, we are not short on innovation. “We’ve got loads of ideas for solar panels and microgrids. While we have all of these pieces, we don’t have a picture of how they come together to build a new world. For too long, the climate fight has been limited to scientists and policy experts. While we need their skills, we also need so much more. When I survey the field, it’s clear that what we desperately need is more artists.”" -Rebecca Solnit. Emphasis added.
Artists are so so important. I've had people tell me they feel bad because, as an artist, they don't think they can contribute anything worthwhile to climate change. They're wrong.
We cannot build a future we cannot imagine. Artists are so important. Artists show us what could be - what we could be
Thierry Mugler - Fall 1995 Couture
It's actually kind of insane how little the rest of the Crows canonically know about Inej's past when you think about it
I know we know all of these awful, terrible details about Inej's abduction and year in the Menagerie, but I think a lot of people forget that no one else knows what she went through. She keeps her own secrets and trauma as close as she does everyone else's. Even Kaz only has "the barest inkling of what she’d endured there," and he's both someone whose actual job entailed collecting secrets from Heleen and the only one who ever actually saw Inej there.
Jesper and Nina probably know some of it (probably different parts than Kaz, who knows different parts than either of them), but there's so much about that time that Inej just. doesn't talk about. with anyone, and the only reason anyone knows about it at all is because there was literally no hiding where she came from and what happened to her
this also led me to the realization that most of our knowledge of Inej's childhood and Suli culture comes from her internal monologues, the flashbacks to her and her parents, or her time in captivity when she's being sweet-talked by Bajan and not anything she actually says out loud to anyone of her own free will
so now I'm just like….thinking about how little Inej actually says about herself to other people and how isolated that probably made her feel during her time with the Dregs
I really needed to see something like this today! Thank you @reasonsforhope for all that you do
If you're feeling anxious or depressed about the climate and want to do something to help right now, from your bed, for free...
Start helping with citizen science projects
What's a citizen science project? Basically, it's crowdsourced science. In this case, crowdsourced climate science, that you can help with!
You don't need qualifications or any training besides the slideshow at the start of a project. There are a lot of things that humans can do way better than machines can, even with only minimal training, that are vital to science - especially digitizing records and building searchable databases
Like labeling trees in aerial photos so that scientists have better datasets to use for restoration.
Or counting cells in fossilized plants to track the impacts of climate change.
Or digitizing old atmospheric data to help scientists track the warming effects of El Niño.
Or counting penguins to help scientists better protect them.
Those are all on one of the most prominent citizen science platforms, called Zooniverse, but there are a ton of others, too.
--
I spent a lot of time doing this when I was really badly injured and housebound, and it was so good for me to be able to HELP and DO SOMETHING, even when I was in too much pain to leave my bed. So if you are chronically ill/disabled/for whatever reason can't participate or volunteer for things in person, I highly highly recommend.
Next time you wish you could do something - anything - to help
Remember that actually, you can. And help with some science.
I've been feeling climate anxiety lately. I think it's really necessary to change everything and progress towards a postcapitalist future that doesn't endanger our planet, our Pachamama. But I don't see how that will be possible. What do you think about this?
Hiya, thanks for getting in touch and sorry it’s taken me so long to reply. I get a lot of asks like this so I think I might make this another masterpost. Here’s climate anxiety solutions according to me:
1) Accept your feelings. Recognise that fear, grief, rage and despair are all normal, healthy, human reactions to paying actual attention to what is being done to our planet right now. You aren’t wrong or sick or overreacting by feeling them. Sit with the emotions, allow them to wash over you, cry, smash plates, punch a pillow, journal, write poetry, yell at the news, scream in the woods! Trying to repress these feelings will just make them harder to deal with.
2) Recognise that the paralysis of climate anxiety is not a good place from which to make a difference. Try to let horror, guilt and self-blame go, and lean into the love for people and planet that motivates all eco-anxiety. Start consuming good news stories and keying into activist spaces so that you can learn how others are claiming agency to fight this problem, and how you can emulate that. Remember that despair absolves you of responsibility and that true solidarity with the most affected means letting your emotions drive you towards action.
4) Educate yourself through reading, listening to podcasts, attending talks, seeking advice from elders, and more - whatever works for your particular life and circumstances. The more informed you are about these issues the more you’ll feel able to address them.
3) Make as many changes as you can in your personal life. Are you eating a high-carbon diet? Try to reduce that. Are you consuming a lot of water or energy resources? Look for green and low-intensity alternatives. Examine your transport habits and prioritise walking, cycling, trains, low or zero emission buses, sailing, and replacing longer-haul journeys with remote options. If you live in a throwaway culture, try to prioritise reuse and repair over consumption. Consider how your livelihood impacts the planet, and if it’s negatively and making change is possible for you, start the process of moving towards an occupation that lets you make a more positive difference.
4) Fight! Join a campaign group, write to your elected officials, attend a protest, donate money to causes if you can, commit civil disobedience if you feel willing and able. Put pressure on governments, businesses and the public to change their ways.
5) Prioritise joy and connection. Spend time in nature, watching animals or foraging for plants or swimming or walking or just letting it all wash over you. Link up with other people to talk through your worries, go hiking, lobby for climate justice, safeguard ecosystems and pass down your local heritage. Sometimes, take a day or two to check out of all these issues and problems and just spend time drawing, cooking, playing games with loved ones, or whatever it is that relaxes you. There are enough of us that you can take the time to avoid burnout.
I hope some of this was helpful, and do please get back in touch if you have any other questions or queries. You’re part of a huge global community of people who love and revere the earth and want to build a better future for all life upon her. Hold onto that.
Blood Meridian by violet_persephone
Chapter 2: April Storms in Wyoming Territory
“Be quiet.” Kaz snaps, and the group falls silent.
Inej’s eyes are wide as saucepans. She looks at each of their faces.
“I know I’ve caused you all trouble,” Inej says quietly, “But don’t send me back. I won’t go back to Heleen. I won’t.”
Kaz feels his blood run cold. The others are stunned into silence. Nina says: “What? Inej, honey, what are you talking about?”
“Mr. Brekker bought me and it’s ruined your plans,” Inej whispers quickly, as if she thinks one of them will cut her off. Or worse, silence her with a slap across the face. Kaz clenches his fists, the leather squealing. “I’m sorry that has happened. But I don’t want to go back.”
One side effect of my research for this novel being steeped heavily in textile history is my swelling disgust with modern fabrics.
Firstly they're so thin? Like most things you see in Old Navy or even department stores might as well be tissue paper?? Even some branded sports t-shirts I've bought in recent years (that are supposed to be 'official apparel' and allegedly decent quality) are definitely not going to hold up more than a year or two without getting little holes from wear.
This side of even two hundred years ago fabrics were made to be used for YEARS, and that's with wearing them way more often because you only owned like three sets of clothes. They were thick and well made and most importantly made to LAST. And they were gorgeous?? Some of the weaves were so fine and the drape so buttery we still don't entirely know how these people managed to make them BY HAND. Not to mention intricate patterning and details that turned even some simple garments into freaking ART.
I know this is not news, the fast fashion phenomenon is well documented. Reading so much about the amazing fabrics we used to create and how we cherished and valued them, though, is making it hard not to mourn what we lost to mass production and capitalism. Not just the quality of the clothing and fabrics themselves, but the generations of knowledge and techniques that are just gone. It makes me what to cry.
I need to get a sewing machine.
fellow writers, how do you properly research translations / language info? lately i’ve been googling, not just using google translate, but different sources give me different translations. how do you go about translating? help!
let me be your stolen spoils
rating: E
A pleasant flush spreads through him remembering the first time he woke up with a ring of bruises that Inej had kissed into his skin, circling his neck like a medal he had worked so hard to earn. He had rolled over in bed to face her and preened while she traced her fingers lightly over the marks. Mine, she had whispered. Yours, Kaz had confirmed. Inej places her mouth on the base of his throat now and he feels her canines nip into his skin. He would let her devour him if she asked.
Kaz, Inej, and a sunny spring day spent in bed.
Read on AO3
Blood Meridian by violet_persephone
Chapter 1: March Rain in Colorado
Everyone west of the Mississippi knows the name Kaz Brekker. Kaz Brekker and his crew listen to the laws of no man, and have established a reputation in western America as infamous criminals. Inej, trapped by Heleen and her indenture, dreams of having the kind of freedom Kaz Brekker and the Dregs have. So when Kaz Brekker and his gang ride into town, Inej makes a deal with the devil. Though she had no idea she'd fall in love with him.
[Image description: a screenshot of an instagram post from user @northwestleftist. It’s a graphic in the style of a block print with flowers and the quote “to be truly radical is to make hope possible rather than despair convincing” from Raymond Williams]
Grishaverse knitting update
I FINISHED THE SIX OF CROWS BLANKET
Okay maybe ‘finished’ is a strong word; all the ends need weaving in (there are so many of them 😭) and I haven’t bought anything to back it with yet but I CAST IT OFF THIS EVENING I’m calling it finished I’m taking the win
The lighting in the photo really isn’t great but here she is in all her glory:
I’m so freaking happy with it
I know a few people asked about the pattern but I don’t have a written one as I just drew up a chart myself and went for it (my second fair isle project ever, and the first was a bauble. I was not ready for this but man I’m glad I just decided to jump I to the deep end because I am obsessed with the result), however I did put up a screenshot of the drawing I used to make my chart a little while ago and if anyone would like me to repost that with my grid superimposed over it and to explain how I did it and what size yarn and needles and everything I used then let me know and I will try to create an explanatory post
I AM SO EXCITED
In other grishaverse knitting news: I haven’t worked on the Kefta in ages tbh but I think I have one sleeve to go before the embroidery I just hate sleeves lol so I’ve been procrastinating and also just generally busy to be fair, and also did I tell y’all I knitted Wylan’s toy crow? I can’t remember, but yeah in my collection of toy crows of the Crows I now have Jesper and Wylan and they sit on my shelf together looking so damn cute. Jesper has a lil hat that he wears at a fun angle and Wylan has lil goggles on his head and a bomb tucked under his wing hehe
sometimes i feel like writing is a grill and i am the meat.
The Reader, Alfred Stevens. 1860.
being an soc fic writer be like